Quote:
Originally Posted by Kostamojen
Did some freeway driving today with the current setup, wasn't that happy with the ride quality... I think the camber plates have compromised the ride enough to where the daily driving quality has gone from "acceptable" to "not comfortable".
As mentioned, I've had coilovers before and have experienced this, and I do personally think a lot of it has to do with the compromise of going from a suspension designed for street use which uses bushings in places to a coilover type suspension with full metal-on-metal bearings instead of bushings for camber plates (and even more so when you start swapping out suspension joints for bearings instead of bushings).
|
I've only had one other car with coilovers in my life, and those reused the stock rubber top hats, and that seemed acceptable to me. They were quiet, but I think most of my grumbling of NVH came from the coilovers themselves and all the shit they made rattle and creak in the car since they were stiff and overdamped. My passengers would always complain, haha. But, the rates themselves seemed pretty good (I just looked up rates, and holy balls, they were much stiffer than I thought) and that car was decently balanced and could carry itself through corners very well. But, those were the days when I was young and stuck out the uncomfortable ride because I didn't care and didn't have money to play with my suspension–I just wanted the lowered look back then.
On the FRS, I currently have the the OTS B14s and HVT camber plates (stock rear rubber mounts, and all factory bushings). Unfortunately, I installed both at the same time, so I don't have the experience between stock upper mounts and the HVTs, but trying to compare it to my experience in my old car, the solid mounts do add a little bit of NVH, but it doesn't sound as bad as what you're experiencing in your FRS. I think my complaints about the B14s mainly stem from the soft progressive rates and the slightly underdamped(?) valving.
Quote:
So right now, I'm thinking of three possibilities on what to do next:
1) The all-out route: Go with 6" springs up front instead of 7" and up the spring rate from the ~225 now to ~275 or higher. Swap out the rear stock Bilstein springs for linear springs and go with Raceng rear tophats and go with ~350 6" springs. This would be an all-in approach and probably sacrifice any possibility at good ride quality...
2) The reverse-route: Try the 6" 275 springs up front but with the Group-N tophats instead of the camber plates and see if I can get the ride height OK with the shorter springs. This would be the least expensive option to try and get the car to where I want it with having linear coilover springs with good shocks and keep the Group-N/STI tophats to maintain a good ride quality as well...
3) The start-over route: Sell what I have now, go for Bilstein B8 shocks with either RCE Tarmac springs or another lowering spring that doesn't have even front/rear rates but still are nice and stiff, and use the Group-N/STI mounts. This would be risky with wheel clearance and expensive buying a whole new setup, and lose any height adjustability, but would probably be a good all-around setup...
|
I can't tell you how many times I've considered the "start over" option on my car. Half of me wants to tear into the B14s, the other half wants to walk away from them and just get B6s (revalved) and a set of Swift Spec Rs. I never plan to run anything larger than the 17x8/225s I currently have, and I have no desire or need for the corner balancing capability, so there isn't really a reason why I should have coilovers in the first place. Looking back, I guess I only bought them because the B6/B8s weren't out yet and I wanted Bilstein suspension (for reasons of decent-to-good quality and rebuilding/service). What I want to avoid with building the B14s is having to continually play with spring rates. I don't really have the time to constantly be testing and switching springs (and revalving if necessary). I am slightly interested in the RCE spec B14s coming soon, but I'm turned off by the even F/R rates.